A Stolen Moment
by TheMadKatter13
Summary: One late night when Stefan decides to check on Elena, he sees something that he'd never thought he'd see, and has no idea how to react. CU post 1x11. Damon/Elena.


**A Stolen Moment **

**by TheMadKatter13 **

**SUMMARY~One late night when Stefan decides to check on Elena, he sees something that he'd never thought he'd see, and has no idea how to react. CU post 1x11. Damon/Elena. **

**DISCLAIMER~The rights to The Vampire Diaries reside with LJ Smith & CW and I receive no financial gain from the writing of this story. **

**AN~Just an idea that came to me and is one of the very, very few fanfictions I've written/posted that includes no sex. Just adorable fluff.**

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><p>Stefan paced the wood floors of his bedroom, phone clasped tightly in his grip. He had called Elena's phone multiple times and there had been no answer. Normally, this wouldn't be much cause for concern, but after first Damon's apparent fascination with Elena, then getting an invitation to her house, killing Mr Tanner after being remarked on his humanity, his abuse of Caroline, killing Zach, turning Vicki, killing Lexi, biting Bonnie, kidnapping Elena to Georgia, and a long, long list of things before he had even come back to Mystic Falls, Stefan in no way felt that Elena was safe from his brother. He needed to check on her, make sure that she was safe.<p>

His trip to her home was short and when he arrived, the light in her room was off but the one in the living room was on, causing him to believe the small family was enjoying yet another movie night. He knocked lightly on the door, loud enough that someone awake inside could hear, but would not wake anyone sleeping. There was no answer and so after a moment, he tested the knob and found it unlocked, slipping inside quietly. He found both the living room and kitchen lit but empty, the television playing the ending credits to some movie. Placing his hand on the couch, he discovered a warmth quickly fading from the fabric, denoting a recent leaving of whomever the occupant had been. Elena, based on the scent. Searching around, he found her phone on the kitchen counter. His steps up to her room were quick and quiet, finding Jenna's, Jeremy's, and Elena's door closed. He opened it slightly to peak inside, relieved to see Elena's sleeping form. He was surprised to find Elena curled into a ball and facing her window, even though previous times he had seen her sleeping always showed her on her back. A small smile crossed his face and started to push the door open further to approach her bedside, only to freeze at the sight of Damon passed out in the chair next to her bed, head resting on the back of the chair, posture splayed, and booted feet resting on a spot on the mattress not covered by comforter, hands folded over his stomach. Stefan wanted nothing more to get Damon away from Elena, but his brother was stronger than he was, and there was no way to get him away from Elena without causing a scene and potentially massive damage to Elena's house. He took a step backwards, pulling the door with him.

Damon shot to his feet in less than a second, freezing Stefan to his spot. Blue eyes were hard as they traced the room, head cocked to the side as if listening for anything, postures all used when being searching for danger. Was he wary of danger to himself or Elena? Damon's mere presence in her room, and the fact that he had been there so long that he had fallen asleep was deeply concerning. And even further, he seemed to be there without her knowledge. What game was he playing? He had made it clear that the only person he cared about was himself, and before that, Katherine. Everything that he did was done with an ulterior motive, a plan and anticipation for everything. What did he want with Elena? Because if he was looking for her to become Katherine's replacement or stand-in, Stefan refused for that to happen. Elena was his, and a repeat of their past would not happen.

After several moments, Damon's posture relaxed minutely and his eyes turned to the sleeping figure on the bed. His leather jacket made soft, small noises as he raised his arm, and his fingers withdrew from the confines of his long sleeve to move hair from her face before tracing her features with no-doubt feather-light touches. From the door, Stefan could see his brother's fingertips trace her brow, then her cheekbones, and last over her lips. She twitched lightly, turning her face towards his brother's hand. His own brow furrowed. Those damnable fingers then traced the veins along the smooth column of her exposed neck before moving on to her collarbone, then tracing her the top of her chest. Stefan felt infinitely relieved when those fingers avoided her covered breasts to move on to trace the small muscles in her exposed arm. Her lower body was covered by a comforter and Stefan felt relieved that Damon would have to stop. He ground his teeth together when Damon simply and slowly moved the comforter from her legs before resuming his tracing of her muscles. When he reached her ankles, he kneeled down by her bedside, taking her petite foot into his large hand and gently kissed the skin on her ankle. She twitched again, and he stood quickly as she shivered before sighing happily when he replaced the covers. He stood by her head once more, let his fingers brush her cheek, and then he was gone through the window in a flash.

Stefan felt a tension in his body release once his brother had left but it did nothing to stop the rage from swelling that his brother was once again coveting what was his. He leaned his head against the doorframe, suddenly feeling tired. He had wanted Damon to feel again, and that's what he got. His eyes were pulled back to Elena when she twitched awake and sat up in the dark, hands moving up to rub at her eyes and push her hair back from her face, as she normally did. She paused in her movements and looked around, a confused look on her face.

"Stefan?" she whispered into the dark, pulling the comforter up farther on her chest, as if she was cold. Stefan couldn't move his feet, for some reason couldn't move forward. "Stefan?" she whisper-called again. She scanned her room with her weak human eyes and they stopped on the chair that his brother had been resting in. Frowning, she reached forward and pulled a pillow from where it rested against the back of the chair, and Stefan realized the empty spot next to her head was from a pillow Damon had taken to rest his own self against. She pulled the pillow up to her face, the minor warmth their skin gave away most likely still lingering on the pillow. He heard her breath deeply, nose still buried in the pillow.

"Damon?" she questioned, surprised, easily recognizing the scent that was so much different than his own. She looked around her room once more before pushing aside the pillows she had been resting on to put the one he had used under her head. She was still facing the window, her head turned more into the pillow as she breathed deep, a small smile on her face. She snuggled deeper into her bed under her comforter, seemingly now more at ease.

Stefan did not believe that Elena was secretly with his brother, like Katherine had been, but they had been developing a fast-growing bond, one Stefan didn't understand and couldn't take part in, and that thought, the thought that there was someplace in Elena's heart just for his brother, tore at him. Elena's massive capacity for love and friendship and forgiveness was one of the many things he loved about her, but he worried that slowly, Damon's part in her heart would grow bigger, and overshadow his own place, before taking over it entirely.

FIN

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><p><strong>Just a short, sad, angsty piece that I really wanted to write and so I did. I'm thinking that I'm going to make this a three-parter, all from different POVs, but there's a good chance I won't, so we'll just call this DONE. However, if you are looking forward to more, it would be a good idea to WATCH STORY in case I change my mind or get a muse.<strong>


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